


SNs & SMs

by Rose_Gold_Goddess (LarasLandlockedBlues)



Series: The Beautiful Calm [5]
Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: After Ending Spoilers (Mystic Messenger), Casual Route Spoilers (Mystic Messenger), Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, For Zen's, MC is an OC, OC is French, POV Zen | Ryu Hyun, Romantic Fluff, Skincare, Social Media, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, Zen | Ryu Hyun's Route, like always
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-24
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2020-01-31 07:53:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18586978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LarasLandlockedBlues/pseuds/Rose_Gold_Goddess
Summary: Two months after the RFA party, Zen has an important question for his honey on a quiet afternoon together.





	SNs & SMs

**Author's Note:**

> I've been playing Zen's route again and just have so many fluffy feelings so here. Have some fluff.

“How do you say  _ panda _ in Korean?”

Zen glanced up from the packs he was sorting through, thinking he’d almost recognized the word she used although not certain of the pronunciation. It sounded different than he’d heard it before. Jolie was holding one of the masks up, pointing at the picture of a cute, cartoon panda on it.

“Oh,” Zen hummed, and then he gave a hearty laugh. “ _ Paendeo _ .”

She repeated the word, twice, and then giggled as she studied the ingredient list on the mask pack. “Do you have one that’s - calming? My skin has been so crazy lately, after all the stress…”

“Here babe, this one.” Zen passed her a packet that contained a few key ingredients he loved, including willow bark and aloe to soothe. “That should be exactly what you need.”

“Do people send you these, or do you buy them?” She asked as she accepted the packet from him to look over.

“A bit of both. Sometimes I get some from fans or the company, modeling companies have sent them to me. After all, I have beauty gods would be jealous of. Lots of people want to help me preserve it.” Even though he puffed up his chest and tossed his head as he said it, he worried a bit that she’d laugh at him, or roll her eyes.

When all she did was smile and look thoughtful, he wasn’t quite certain what to make of it. She tore open the mask pack and began to carefully unfold the dripping, serum-infused cloth within. As she smoothed it over her face and got it situated he opened the one he’d chosen for himself and began to do the same.

“Zenny,” she began slowly, playfully pursing her lips at him once her mask was secured on her face.

God, she looked so damn cute…

“Yes, honey?”

“I know you don’t really like tech stuff and you want people to focus on your acting,” she continued thoughtfully, as if she was choosing her words carefully. “But have you considered using the tools available to you to - get people interested in your work?”

“Honey,” he dragged the word out with a sigh, smoothing his mask around the edges of his face as he considered. “I want them to focus on my acting, and if I share my photos everywhere all they’ll focus on is my looks. It’s my blessing and my curse.”

Jolie reached for the strawberry-and-lemon-infused water she had made for them, pouring a glass for herself before she set the pitcher aside. The serious look she gave him was rendered adorable by the shiny white cloth over her face, her golden blonde hair piled on top of her head in a large messy bun.

“ _ Oui, mon loup _ , but they are something you could use to your advantage,” she suggested with a casual shrug.

“Everyone will just be in awe of how handsome I am, they won’t pay attention to my work at all,” he grumbled.

“You know that’s not true,” she lightly scolded. Her accent was thickening, the way it always did when she began to get passionate about something. There was a piercing look in her green eyes, a strange determination to the quirk of the curved eyebrow she arched. “Your fan club talks about more than just your looks, your shows sell out from people desperate to see you act and sing.”

“You really think so, honey?” he asked before he could stop himself. He felt his cheeks heat ever so slightly until he realized that he didn’t, actually, feel embarrassed in front of her. She believed in him, spent evenings reciting lines with him or watching him rehearse before offering to work out with him. For the two months they had been together now he realized that of everyone he had met in his life, she really, truly was his number one fan and supporter.

What had he done to deserve her?

“Of course I do, don’t be so skeptical, Zenny,” she chided softly. “I’ve been thinking though - I mean, I’m in marketing, it’s what I do. And I was thinking - if you thought of social media as marketing your acting -”

“Babe, it’s probably not worth it -”

“Can I show you something?”

He nodded and leaned back on the sofa, reaching for his beer as he stretched his other arm out to rest behind her shoulders. She settled into his side, resting her head on his shoulder, and fidgeted with her phone for a few moments.

“Here - so on this account, you could create stories, short pictures or videos, and people could watch them all in one go or as you add to them,” she explained, quickly clicking through a few to show him. “I was thinking - if you were at rehearsals and took a few pictures or short videos of you practicing, then the focus would be your work. People could follow along and it would create even more interest in your productions.”

“They already sell out, honey, it’s probably useless,” he told her with a sigh.

“You know who pays attention to this sort of thing, though?” she asked, glancing up at him. The seriousness of her gaze was softened by the mask she wore, and he fought the urge to laugh by taking a sip of his beer. “Other production companies, other directors. I know you always want to get your roles based on your talents, and these could be like - mini auditions. Marketing your skills and talents in small, easy to consume snapshots.”

When she put it like that, it made sense. He had never considered using tech in that way to support his work, but then again he didn’t care for tech at all.

Besides the nights he occasionally played Minesweeper or FreeCell with a beer…

“There would still be those who follow for your looks, but as you’ve said that’s - unavoidable. This would allow you to control it though, and try to keep the focus on your work,” she concluded. “I could show you all the ins and outs, I run a few of these for our company -”

“All right, I think - it’s worth a try. But um...babe, why don’t you run it?” he suggested. He took another gulp of beer and played with some of the loose strands of her golden blonde tresses.

“Me?” she asked, and the sheet mask rose on her face as if moving with her eyebrows.

“You already know how to do it, and you’d be much better at it than I would be. You know I’m bad at all that tech stuff, what if I accidentally ruin my reputation?”

“I doubt you would,” she assured him, but she slowly sipped from her glass of lightly pink water as if she was thinking.

Now seemed as good a time as any for the question he had been pondering but hadn’t known how to bring up. He didn’t want to add to her workload, after all he knew how much effort she put in every day she was at work. But he trusted her, more than he had ever been able to trust anyone, and her gentle guidance had already helped him navigate the after effects of the scandal with Echo Girl so that he came out even better off than before.

Zen cleared his throat and set his beer aside, reaching for her hand as he turned slightly to face her. “Jolie, honey, I want to ask you something.”

“You can ask me anything, you know that.”

“And please, feel free to say no, I don’t want to ever pressure you into anything,” he insisted. Clearing his throat again, he squeezed her hand and took a deep breath. “Jolie, will you be my manager?”

The white sheet on her face hid her expression under a constant, comical look of surprise, but her eyes sparkled encouragingly. “That’s definitely not what I thought you’d ask but - oh Zen, I’d love to!”

“Really? I’m - I’m not asking too much of you?” he asked.

She laughed, a throaty, deep laugh that he loved hearing just as much as he loved her voice. Scooting closer to him on the sofa, she draped her legs across his lap and snuggled into him. “No, you’re not. I’d love to help you succeed, honey. After all, I - I love you. I want you to achieve your dreams -”

He forgot about the sheet masks as he pressed his lips to hers, a tangled mess of drippy white cotton getting in the way. After a moment he pulled away, chuckling as they both tried to readjust their masks.

“Well, as your manager, then - I vote we start you some social media accounts,” she declared.

She settled back into the sofa, eagerly typing at her phone. Zen tightened his arm around her, picking his beer up once more. For a time they sat in peaceful silence while she worked on her phone and he watched her setting up the accounts. He didn’t understand most of what she was doing, noticing the way she mumbled under her breath as she completed each task, sometimes speaking to herself in French.

“We need a profile picture,” she finally said. “For now we should use the same one across all the sites, lends authenticity that you really are starting to use social media. What about one of the ones from your most recent production?”

“Oh, there was that one of me in costume for the test,” he told her. “I put it in the RFA app.”

“I saved it to my phone,” she confessed with a light giggle. After a few moments of more navigating on the apps she had set the photo so that it appeared at the top as an icon. “How does it look?”

To his surprise, he actually appreciated how everything looked, intrigued by the brief yet perfectly informative bio that accompanied the icon. “It looks great, honey! Damn. You do good work, I should have hired you two months ago.”

She laughed again, reaching up to smooth the sheet mask down her chin. “How long have we had these on?”

“Maybe fifteen minutes now?” He checked his phone to see. “Just a few more minutes, want to get all the benefits we can.”

Jolie nodded and picked up her glass of water again, still absently scrolling through the account she had made for him. “It looks empty without any posts...hmm…”

“Let’s do one now. Taking care of my skin is part of my work, too,” he pointed out. Setting his beer aside again he pulled her closer to him.

“Oh, with me too?”

The tone of surprise in her voice tugged at something within him, and he considered for a moment before he explained. “Honey, I made it clear at the RFA party. I want to be honest and always myself, and if that means I lose some fans for not being single then so be it. I love you, and I won’t hide that.”

“Zenny,  _ mon loup _ ,” she murmured, batting her thick eyelashes in the eye holes of her mask. “I - I guess I hadn’t realized that would even mean here on these accounts.”

“You’re a part of my life, a part of why I want to succeed in my work, and now you’re my manager. If these are going to show me as I am to the world, that includes you.”

For several seconds she sat staring at her phone, and then a bright smile stretched the white sheet on her face. “All right then. Let’s do it.”

Leaning back into his arms once more, she raised her phone with the camera open to selfie mode. They both adjusted their masks, and she fluffed her bun with one hand before they smiled into the camera, tilting their heads together. Jolie snapped a few pictures, giving them options, and they scrolled through until they found the one they both liked.

Zen watched as she loaded it in, captioning it  _ “Taking care of our skin, a super important part of an actor’s day!” _ and then added things after like  _ #nofilter, #zen, #whitehairdontcare, #alwaysontheclock, #sheetmasks, #skincareroutine _ ,  _ #eatyourfruits _ after it.

He frowned a little, then shook his head. “Say something about you too, babe.”

Her fingers stopped and hovered over her phone. “Like what?”

“How you’re the best girlfriend ever. Something like that.”

Jolie glanced up at him and winked before she added one more -  _ #myhoney. _ “How’s that?”

“Perfect,” he agreed with a beaming smile. “Now hurry up - let’s take these masks off so we can go for a jog.”

“All right,” she agreed, setting her phone aside so she could peel the sheet off her face. Her glowing skin matched her bright smile when she glanced at him, and he made short work of his mask as well.

“Honey,” he said as he slid one hand behind her head and pulled her to him. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“Zenny,” she sighed, closing her eyes and tilting her head up invitingly.

Without the masks to get in the way he was able to truly show her just how much he meant it, kissing her slowly and savoring the slight tang of lemon and strawberry on her tongue. When he pulled away finally he smiled, taking in the way her eyes took a few languid moments to open.

“Come on,  _ mon loup _ \- I’ll race you,” she told him, and in an instant had hopped off the sofa.

Never before had someone helped him succeed and believe in himself, and it took him a second to overcome the emotions he felt so that he eagerly could follow her.


End file.
